macrumors member

Bear in mind that the 17" version, unlike the 15", does not use the LED display and will fade over time. Personally, I chose the latter because it has a much brighter screen (more conducive to outdoor use) with better longevity, and is about a pound and a half lighter weight.

The 17", however, has a noticeably longer battery life and actually has better graphics performance than the 15" (the GPU and VRAM both clock notably faster). I really wouldn't worry about the larger resolution taxing the video card, especially since you can lower it if need be.

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